HARARE: Fawad Alam notched his fourth Test hundred as Pakistan built an imposing first innings lead over Zimbabwe on the second day of the first Test in Harare on Friday.

Fawad’s unbeaten 108, along with opener Imran Butt’s painstaking 91 earlier in the day, guided Pakistan to 374-6 at the close, giving them a lead of 198 over Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club.

Hasan Ali was the other unbeaten batsman with 21 on a day that saw the Pakistan batsmen struggling in the morning — they scored just 59 from 32 overs — before accelerating in the next two sessions.

Fawad drove Zimbabwe seamer Donald Tiripano for two consecutive boundaries to race from 93 to his century, having remarkably converted each of his Test fifties into three figures.

The 35-year-old left-hander had smashed a debut hundred in Sri Lanka in 2009 but was discarded after only two more Tests and then had to wait for 10 years and 259 days for his next Test, in England last year.

The tourists are replying to their hosts modest first-innings score of 176 with unorthodox middle-order batsman Fawad, who takes a bizarre front-on stance at the crease, leading the way with an unbeaten 108 that has come from 155 balls on a slow wicket with the help of 16 boundaries. He added 107 for the fifth wicket with Mohammad Rizwan who made 45.

While Fawad made the most of his opportunity, Imran missed out on a maiden Test century by just nine runs.

Others amongst runs were Abid Ali 60 and Azhar Ali 36.

Zimbabwe’s best bowler Donald Tiripano, who has figures of 3-89, had already derailed Pakistan with a double strike in the post-lunch session with the wickets of Azhar and Babar Azam.

The Pakistan captain Babar drove Tiripano firmly to Roy Kaia at an unorthodox short mid-on to record his first ever golden duck in Test cricket.

The right-handed Imran became seamer Richard Ngarava’s first wicket in Tests, caught behind after hitting seven boundaries in an obdurate 236-ball stay.

Resuming on 103-0, the Pakistan openers struggled early on as the Zimbabwe bowlers kept tight line and length.

Imran, playing just his third Test, and Abid could add only 10 runs in the opening 10 overs — eight of the first 14 overs were maidens. The first boundary only arrived in the 18th over of the morning.

With the introduction of Tendai Chisoro’s left-arm spin, Abid retreated into his shell completely before an attempted drive found the edge of the bat.

Brendan Taylor juggled the chance at slip before pouching it to end Abid’s innings, which last 140 balls and included 10 fours, and an opening partnership of 115.

Scoreboard

ZIMBABWE (1st Innings) 176 (R. Kia 48; Shaheen Shah Afridi 4-43, Hasan Ali 4-53).

PAKISTAN (1st Innings, overnight 103-0):

Imran Butt c Chakabva b Ngarava 91

Abid Ali c Taylor b Chisoro 60

Azhar Ali c Musakanda b Tiripano 36

Babar Azam c Kaia b Tiripano 0

Fawad Alam not out 108

Mohammad Rizwan b Muzarabani 45

Faheem Ashraf c Chisoro b Tiripano 0

Hasan Ali not out 21

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-3, W-1, NB-8) 13

TOTAL (for six wkts, 120 overs) 374

FALL OF WKTS: 1-115 (Abid), 2-176 (Azhar), 3-182 (Babar), 4-226 (Imran), 5-333 (Rizwan), 6-334 (Faheem)

TO BAT: Nauman Ali, Sajid Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi.

BOWLING (to-date): Muzarabani 24-8-42-1; Ngarava 23-4-83-1 (3nb); Chisoro 34-7-89-1; Tiripano 23-6-89-3 (5nb, 1w); Shumba 9-3-29-0; Kaia 7-0-38-0.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2021